After almost two years since their last album release, does D'espairsRay's first major album satisfy?
D'espairsRay had quite a busy year in 2008: the Taste of Chaos tour, new singles BRILLIANT, KAMIKAZE and HORIZON, and more tours in Japan. The cherry on top of a successful and packed year was their signing to a major label, Delicious Deli Records. At the same time the announcement of going major was released came news of a release of a new CD, REDEEMER. The three singles released in 2008 had given fans a taste of what was to come and left them hungry for more, especially when their last album release was almost two years ago! But did REDEEMER satisfy that hunger and live up to its name?
The album starts off with Lizard; the opening notes sound promising with electronic beats and twists that later reappear throughout the album, but afterward, it's quite boring. D'espairsRay has already used this murky-to-powerful formula twice for their opening tracks in Coll:set and Mirror, so Lizard is a rehash, at best. Following are BRILLIANT and REDEEMER, two of the strongest tracks of the album that make Lizard forgettable. BRILLIANT is an optimistic track with a rich layering of instrumentals and vocals; it's never boring and sounds just as good - if not better - the hundredth time listening to as it does the first. REDEEMER harks back to the fun and heavy shredders like fan favorite reddish -DIVA version-, and it gives Karyu the chance to show off some neat guitar riffs. Still, one can’t help but wonder if it feels weak on its own without the dark and creepy visuals of its PV.
Kouhaku is a four and a half minute stall in what would have been a relatively strong line-up for the first half of the album with KAMIKAZE, Lost in re:birth and R.E.M. -fuyu no genchou- following it, respectively. Kouhaku is only an "okay" song - fortunately, KAMIKAZE and Lost in re:birth rescues listeners from auditory boredom. Lost in re:birth is of particular note. A wonderfully raw and aggressive track with a catchy and infective chorus, it reminds listeners of D'espairsRay's older songs. R.E.M. -fuyu no genchou- provides a resting point for listeners but can stand on its own nonetheless. A heart-breaking and moving ballad, it gives Hizumi the chance to pour his heart out and show off his vocal range.
HORIZON feels somewhat contrived, but it offers a nice transition to the heavier MASQUERADE. MASQUERADE, like Kouhaku, feels somewhat forced; the growling moments in the track are gratuitous and lack any conviction. Then comes Yozora, possibly the weakest song not just on the album, but in D’espairsRay's entire repertoire thus far. Hizumi is the rare gem of a vocalist who is both fantastic on CD and on stage, but in Yozora, he seems to lose his singing abilities for the duration of the song, often sounding off-key. However, it does feature neat little solos from ZERO and Karyu, respectively.
After Yozora is PARADOX 5, which is the most ambient track on the album. It has a Middle-Eastern lilt that could have been more successful by offering a stronger resolution, but for an experiment away from D’espairsRay's usual sound, it's quite interesting. Finally, if you thought HORIZON was pop sounding, wait until you listen to HEAVEN'S COLOR, REDEEMER's final track . While it follows the direction of pop-edged hard rock that D'espairsRay has been heading, it does so in a way that makes it seem like the long-lost sibling of any one of L'arc~en~ciel's pieces.
This album succeeded in showcasing Karyu's guitar skills, from the cool tricks in REDEEMER and Lost in re:birth (where else have you heard a guitar sound like demon-possessed violins?) to the fact that he had solos in more than half of the songs on the album. And even though it didn't always succeed, D'espairsRay was daring enough to try their hand at an ambient electronic piece like PARADOX 5 and their softest ballad to date, R.E.M. -fuyu no genchou-.
That said, REDEEMER ultimately did not deliver enough to satisfy. It is a little bit sad to say so, especially for a band like D'espairsRay whom fans adored for their consistently strong releases. The album lacked the usual conviction, power and solidarity that the band is known for. The randomness in the quality of each track made this album underwhelming and, quite frankly, a little confusing - for example, where in the world did Yozora come from? If REDEEMER is what D'espairsRay has to put out as a major band, hopefully it's just a warm-up and not a preview of what's to come.
